


Letters

by dragonflew



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, War Mention, injury mention, not graphic, theseus is only a year older than leta and newt here because canon is for when it suits my purposes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:08:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23920576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonflew/pseuds/dragonflew
Summary: "I'm falling in love with you""There's still time to stop"
Relationships: Leta Lestrange/Theseus Scamander
Kudos: 17





	Letters

**Author's Note:**

> prompt by @prompt-galaxy on tumblr  
> brief mentions of war and death because it's set around WW1

"I'm falling in love with you." Theseus was staring at her like she was the entire world, and it _scared_ her.

"There's still time to stop."

People got close, they either got hurt or left. Better that they never came into her life at all. She was already far too close to Theseus to be safe, but she couldn't bring herself to push him away completely. He'd been the only one in Hogwarts willing to talk to her after Newt was expelled, and in a way, he'd almost replaced his lighter haired brother, though Newt had a permanent place in her heart.

And then of course, he'd graduated a year earlier than her, and she'd been left alone yet again. Sure, she exchanged letters with the brothers, but it wasn't quite the same as stolen moments in the Astronomy tower or Forbidden Forest.

"Wait," Theseus caught her hand. "I mean it."

She looked at him, meeting his eyes. "I know." There wasn't an insincere bone in his body.

His face fell. "If you want me to, I'll leave."

She didn't want him to leave. Not like this.

Leta tried to gather herself, retain her careful composure. "Theseus, I-"

"I don't give a damn that you're a Lestrange, whatever people say, it's not true. They're wrong."

"There's a reason the only person who would talk to me in Hogwarts was your brother." She turned away before he could see her face crumple. "Goodnight, Theseus." She apparated away before he could say anything, leaving him standing in an empty street.

Theseus had never been one to give up easily. He _was_ recommended for Head Auror for a reason after all. But he also knew that Leta could not be pushed, and so he decided to give her time. Following her lead, their relationship went back to 'just friends'. They wrote when he was away on missions, and she on business, both carefully avoiding the one topic that would ruin it. He told her about the latest mishaps with the trainee Aurors and she wrote back about the entitled purebloods she'd met.

But he'd fallen for Leta Lestrange, and that wasn't something he could just ignore.

And then the war came, and though the Ministry forbade wizarding intervention, he enlisted anyway, Head Auror position be damned. What was the use of a title if he didn't have responsibility?

Letters with Leta were infrequent now, often censored, some lost in the endless shooting, and blood, and death. They relied on the muggle letter system, it was too risky to the Statute of Secrecy to send owls. Topics had to be danced around, for fear of Muggles reading the letters.

He'd never been afraid for himself before, but he was afraid now. There was only so much magic could do against the endless bombardment of bullets and bombs, planes strafing the trenches, the despair of the muggle soldiers fighting alongside him. So much for 'over by Christmas', it had been 2 years and the war showed no signs of stopping.

_My dearest Leta,_

_I hope you are well._

Now what?

He gave up as another soldier comes around with watered down alcohol. Probably with dirty water, but it was all they had.

"That for your girl?" the soldier asked, grinning.

"She's not my girl," he replied automatically, reaching for the tin.

The soldier gave him a commiserating look. "Aye, I know how it is." With a friendly punch on the shoulder before moving on, he added: "Good luck."

_Good luck with the girl. Good luck getting home in one piece. Good luck staying alive._

_Dear Theseus,_

_I hope this one reaches you. Travers is absolutely furious at you now. If you die out there, one of us is going to kill you when you get back. Newt is worried too, but he won't say it. I think he's annoyed that your boss keeps pestering him for information. He says the animals send their love. We miss you._

_Please be careful._

_Leta._

_My dearest Leta,_

_I hope you are well. Tell Newt to be careful with his case or Travers will have me hunt him down when I get back. Tell Travers he can stop harassing people who know me and come find me himself. I'm perfectly fine, you can all stop worrying now._

Missing you,

_Theseus._

_Dear Theseus,_

_You are the worst liar I know. We've all seen the news about that war hero stuff, and your parents are really worried now. You're reckless enough to be in a different house, honestly. Newt says to get off his case. You should really write to him, I'm not a messenger pigeon. He_ is _your brother, you know._

_We miss you,_

_Leta_

He returned home when the war ended, with new scars. The Ministry let him off with a warning- _don't do that again, Scamander_ -but he hadn't broken the Statute of Secrecy, and he was apparently considered a _war hero_ now, so there was nothing that they could do without public and international outroar.

The media picked up on it, but all he wanted to do was go home.

Newt was off on some creature hunting trip again, and he was half glad, because reporters were swarming the house and Theseus suspected that his brother would be less than happy to have their home invaded. Their mother takes it in her stride, telling them to _'keep away from the Hippogriffs'_ , which were conveniently all around their house.

He got a rare letter from Newt, with a rather peculiar looking …owl. He suspected it wasn't an owl at all, but had no idea what to call it. In any case, it seemed to appreciate the water he poured out, and took off before Theseus could write a reply. The note was brief and to the point.

_Glad to hear you are safe. I'll be back soon._

To Theseus's surprise, he actually was back soon, apparating right into the living room two days later, much to their mother's delight and chagrin.

"Sorry about the reporters-" Theseus began resignedly, but he was interrupted by a hug-an actual hug- from Newt. He was so surprised that he forgot to hug back for a moment.

"Leta missed you." Newt told him quietly.

He went to find Leta early in the morning, only once the reporters lost interest when a bigger scandal broke out involving Grindelwald's followers in the ministry. Normally, he'd be put on the case right away, but Travers was still infuriated and he was tired of fighting and running and trying to stay alive.

The door to her apartment opened immediately, and Leta was there, Leta looking tired and worried, breaking into a smile, -Theseus would gladly fight a thousand wars if it meant he could see her smile- but he couldn't think about that now because she was hugging him fiercely, curly hair brushing his chin, and he could barely breathe but he hugged back anyway, let her pull him inside, let her inspect his face worriedly like his mother had done, as though there would be new scars- _there were_ -, as though she'd never see him again.

"I'm alright."

"That was _stupid_." She drew back, and he could see her puffy eyes,

"Never do that again."


End file.
